Onwards and Upwards 2

Thank you to everyone for visiting and for your brilliant feedback. I am so thrilled to read your messages. I’ve had record figures for visitors to the site and I’m particularly pleased to read how those of you are awaiting the surgery are finding it useful.

It’s been another spectacular day today, after a completely inauspicious start. I went to sleep just before midnight and had a dreadful night. I had nightmare after nightmare, and every time I woke up, another horror fest loomed. It was as though Stephen King was controlling them.

(Note: I hate King, but if I’d used Ramsey Campbell, who actually knows how to write a cracking scary yarn you’d have been stumped!)

Anyway, you get my drift. I woke up a physical wreck. My chest was a bit sore and I was generally very grumpy (Tell us something new – David’s Big Sister). The day nurses that came on duty wanted me up and scrubbed ready for Mr Ainslie’s rounds. I wouldn’t like to say they physically manhandled me out of bed, but after muttering that I knew some very good lawyers was stood, repositioned and given a once over (Some of you may be eating while reading this so I’ll spare the graphic bits).

I should also add at this point that a certain Big Sister (no names or packdrill but Beryl knows who she is) apparently told the staff to bully me into submission and they have taken her at her word. This oversight will be addressed at some point in the future, suffice it to say. By 8:45 I was ready to meet God aka Mr Ainslie. He looked through the notes and uttered the first bombshell of the day. That everything was going so well that I could basically go home as soon as possible.

I was completely gobsmacked! He asked if I had any comments and I was just speechless; I had been told to prepare to two weeks, possibly longer, heard stories of people picking up infections and being in for longer. And now five days after I was in a seven hour op, I can go home? It was such brilliant news. This man is a genius and I owe everything to him.

I had my cocktail of morning drugs, mixed my Forceval with some yoghurt and digested it and the news. We had arranged a case conference for my social worker and support staff for Thursday, but even that is too far away. Phoned Social Services but the lovely Lydia is off every Monday, so it has to wait till tomorrow morning. I’ll will be on the phone again at 9:01 to speak to her. Hopefully if we can sort things out, it will be home on Wednesday. I so hope so.

I then had a visit from Cara my Bariatric Support Nurse, another NHS Superstar who has held my hand through the process and kept me on the straight and narrow. Again she was thrilled about my progress and gave me all the discharge information. We discussed things that have happened and the key things I need to focus on while travelling the path ahead.

Not surprisingly I have been on Cloud 9 for the rest of the day. I have been researching foods, contacting companies that deliver home meals in order to get things ready to organise quickly. Now I have a vested interest. My two previous carers Adrian and Darren I want to retain. Over the past six months I have got to know them and we have a really strong bond. It will be easier for A&D to just microwave the ready meals than stand around cooking and puréeing. Likewise my lovely bath nurse Sharron and I want them all to be part of my march back to better health. Please cross your fingers for me that the lovely Lydia can work her magic.

Food today has been good. After the previous day’s horrors with the puréed meals I decided to go for broke and try the fish, praying it didn’t have any seafood (allergic to). It arrived as “Fish in Cheese Sauce” and it was surprisingly enjoyable; so much so I has five spoonfuls. Tea was “Spicy Minced Lamb” which was OK and I managed four spoonfuls. I should probably have had a yoghurt, and I have one sitting here, but it isn’t strictly fat but smooth, where the hospital low fats have bits and seeds which are just no-nos.

The rest of the day has been sharing the good news with friends and chatting with my co-tenants on this little ward. I spent the weekend with a chap called Michael who was really good company and we have exchanged numbers and will keep in touch. He was discharged this afternoon and now I’ve been joined by Another Dave who is good to talk with.

Finally this evening I met Sue, who came in tonight and is having her gastric bypass tomorrow. I told her to pull up a chair and we talked for about half an hour about everything I had been through and let her ask whatever questions she had. I hoped it worked for her and put her fears at rest.

Dear friends, a little thought of good wishes for her tomorrow, please. I hope to see her when she’s back on the ward and I’ll keep you updated,

And that’s about it. Time to hook up the C-PAP machine and settle down for the night. I’ll report on developments tomorrow.

One final thought, my friends, I heard a story from a very close friend of a family of four, whose mother and father were, shall we say, large, they have a FOURTEEN year old son who weighs SIXTEEN stone. Two weeks ago I’d have said so what. Now it worries, almost terrifies me as much as last night’s dreams. That Man of the People in 10 Downing Street needs to start taking action to protect our future.